A Strange Love, This Is
by writer4sho
Summary: Sometimes love isn't all about sweet kisses and soft caresses. Sometimes there's blind hatred and fights. Arguments and curses. Love is complicated. One-Shot. D/Hr. Slight Lemon. R&R


**Authour's Note**: Just enjoy it. That's all I ask. Kay. Thanks.

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><p>She wouldn't be exaggerating if she said that the bookstore was barren. Empty. Void of life. Well. It made sense, didn't it? The only ones who actually came to Flourish and Blotts were the students during the couple of weeks before the start of term for Hogwarts.<p>

Remembering her first time there, it didn't seem like much of a fascination to some. Except for the eccentric books that were quite out of hands. Like the _Monster Book of Monsters_ or _The Invisible Book of Invisibility._

Sure, some didn't understand Hermione's strange fascination with books. It made her...different. A bookworm was a term she didn't like to associate with all too much, but the fact that all things knowledgeable were found in books made her a vessel for such wordy, filled things like books.

Harry and Ron never understood why she liked to go to the bookstore every Sunday. Sure it was a way to spend her free days in a place that she felt most comfortable. But it wasn't for relaxing sake...not to just forget about work. But really to forget about other things that just didn't seem to make her logical brain cooperate all too…logically.

Who knew that emotions could override the logical vortex of one's mind, thus trumpeting and locking down everything that you find logical with things like "feelings"? She had felt that way with Ronald for the little time that they dated after the War. But it wasn't until she burrowed down in her job at the Ministry that she found she didn't want to settle down with a significant other. She wanted to find herself.

With all the things that had gone down with helping Harry in every turn during their six years at Hogwarts and then helping him defeat one of the darkest wizards of all time, she never thought that she really had time to find out what she wanted. Sure it was all about studying and being the best she could be, just because she understood that she was somehow different from the other wizards. She wasn't ignorant to think that prejudice was never apparent in the world of the Wizards. But with knowledge and learning, she knew that she could prove herself in this world.

Sure books fascinated Hermione and the thirst for knowledge made her crave to read more on the Sunday afternoons, but after five years since the War all she could find herself doing there was walking down the crowded aisle filled with chairs and books. Books shoved in tiny, creaked spaces on the wooden shelves.

"Hermione, are you sure you don't want to go down the street to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour? I'm really craving the strawberry and banana cream nuts flavor", Ginny said as she rubbed her swollen belly which was covered by the dark green robes thrown over her petite figure.

Hermione looked down at her and smiled softly before passing another aisle and making a left into the Mythology book section. She ran her fingers over the rough binding of the dusty books and looked at each title to see if she didn't recognize any on the topic. "Gin, I don't want any sweets at the moment."

She heard her sigh heavily, bustling to her. "I'm not asking, Hermione." She was silent as she walked closer to her to keep up, huffing as she brushed a strand of red hair out of her eyes. "I'm telling you."

"Oh?" She raised her eyebrows up and bit her lips as she read the title _Grecian Myths Beyond the Gods._

"Right. As a pregnant woman in her early twenties I find it impertinent that I replenish myself with the right nutrition, seeing as how I'm well into five months of my pregnancy."

Hermione stared hard at the author's name under the title and picked it off its shelf as she rummaged through the dusty pages. "I see. Look, Gin." She looked up at her and frowned, "You didn't have to come with me today, you know. I usually do come here by myself."

"I know," Ginny rolled her eyes and ran a fingernail down the edge of a big tome to her left. "But...I just want to make sure you're okay, is all. Harry and Ron have been downright worried about you, and you know how those two get..." She shook her head and looked over to Hermione.

She frowned as she looked up from a particular text in the book and over at her red-haired friend. "Right. How could I forget?"

Ginny smiled weakly and placed a hand on Hermione shoulder, "It's okay to be upset, you know..."

"I'm fine, Gin."

"No. You're not." The set expression on her face grew heavier as the silence between the two grew longer, and she finally shook her head and looked away from Hermione's eyes. "I don't want to think of you as that type of girl who goes and hides herself in things to take your mind off the heartache-"

"But that's who I am! I don't-"

"You're not the emotional type who let's things get to you as much as most. I understand. But Merlin knows you have a heart, Hermione Jean Granger." Ginny ran her other hand over her belly and smiled softly as she stepped forward and wrapped both her arms around her. "And it's understandable. It's really is. I get why you could be...heartbroken-"

Hermione shook her head, standing still as Ginny let go of her, feeling the baby bump nudge her forearm. "You don't understand."

"I mean, think about it though. Really? It's Malfoy. I'm surprised it even lasted a year-"

"A year and two months, technically."

Ginny raised her arms in the air and widened her eyes, staring her down. "Exactly. That's longer than you and Ronald!"

Hermione blushed and shut the book in her hand, tucking it under her arms as she walked further down the carpeted aisle. "It's not that Ronald and I couldn't last too long, it was just that I need to find myself after the War."

She turned her head sharply as Ginny scoffed and upturned her lips as her friend continued to snicker, looking over the books and not at her. "Right...and then two months later we find you and Malfoy bickering and flirting at work."

Hermione blushed and skated her palms over the volumes, "That was the 'finding myself' part."

Her soft voice seemed to be a distant echo in the shop and she felt Ginny's small grip on her arms. A tight squeeze of reassurance. "And what did you find, precisely?"

Breathing in deeply and closing her eyes for just a short second, Hermione remembered the bright sunny mornings where she'd wake up in a soft, billowy bed. Her figure lying next to another. The blond hair that brightened under the sun' rays and the clear, grey eyes that were as stormy as the days she usually spent with him. Emotional, tumultuous, and hard to go through. But fascinating. She was drawn to all of it, really.

She never realized how tightly drawn to Draco's person she was until she was assigned to work with him on one tiny project.

Sure, there was constant biting and insults. Of course, she still thought of him as the ferret that did all those things in school that so many found irredeemable.

What does one learn from being with Draco Malfoy? What is one thing that someone gathers from putting themselves in a tough, long-term relationship with the wizard?

It was through those two months that Ginny had mentioned earlier where Hermione realized he was more than just Snape's favorite and Harry's school enemy. He was a conflicted human being and a puzzle. He was hard for her to understand and she liked picking through his walled up mind, finding out more about him through action more so than speech.

And when he talked to her the first few weeks that they began working together, Hermione always tried to pick up on something other than the snotty, drawl that she was so accustomed to listening to from school. Sure it was annoying at first and she found it hard to work with him under that irritating voice of his, but soon she grew to respect it. It changed with pitch depending on how he felt. When he was pretty confident about a piece of information he had obtained for the project, his voice grew deep. When he was angry with her, she could the tough restrain of his vocal chords working together to tighten up like the vicious anger that she felt boiling beneath his blood.

She grew to know him more, sure. And if there was one thing she could appreciate from that experience, it was the moment she realized that Draco's intellect and mind was witty and sharp. And conversations with him never grew tiring or disappointing. Not that Harry and Ron weren't of compatible nature to her inquisitive brain, but Draco had a way with words. He had this special way of making her feel like her ideas and thoughts weren't the only ones to make sense in an intellectual diatribe.

She opened her eyes and stared blankly at Ginny, breathing in a deep breath as she weakly smiled. "I'm just as complicated and crazy as I was before- for falling in love with a man that left me two months ago, I suppose."

* * *

><p>"Hey, 'Mione. Coming over to the Burrow tonight for Mum's cooking?"<p>

Hermione looked up from her file and watched as Ron walked into her office, sweat rolling down his temple and robes coated in dust and dirt. Gathering from the wide thrill in his blue eyes and the red flush on his tan cheeks, she assumed that he came back from another meet up with the Aurors. Harry had mentioned to her earlier in the week that there was a raid of young wizards gathering up and vandalizing Wizard Shops all over Diagon Alley and in some parts of Hogsmeade.

It wasn't supposed to be a mission overload, but knowing Ronald she gathered that he had gotten himself in a situation that only he would manage to get himself into.

She nodded her head quickly as she watched him track his footsteps closer into her office, the solid thuds of his boots resounding around the windowed room, the bright fake, sun hitting his orange hair. The glare of it made her wince as she looked up at him walking closer to her desk, drawing in to embrace her.

She shrunk back in her wooden chair and shook her head, "Ronald. You're dripping in filth at the moment."

His laugh bounced off the corners of her room. "Ah, 'Mione. Don't want to give me a hug after a victorious defeat against those hooligans we had to face in Diagon Alley today? I'm hurt."

She grimaced as the smell of man sweat and heat enveloped her space and she felt the pull of his arms bringing her into his tight embrace. The rough fabric of his robes rubbed against her cheeks, dust flying up into her nose as she tried to breath in a soft giggle at her friend's audacity. A quick sneeze didn't budge him off of her though and she had to push him with her small hands, looking down at the dirt that was now on her clean wood floor.

"Ronald! You've dirtied up the place." She pouted as she pushed off him further and drew her wand. "Scourgify!" Pointing the vine wood over her friend's appearance and on towards the ground. She nodded at the cleanness and smiled over at Ron once more before pocketing her wand and looking back at her files.

She heard him sigh as he walked around her desk and sat down in the chair that faced her. "Hermione Granger, the ever-clean witch of our age."

"Oh hush, Ron."

The soft smile on the edge of her friend's lips didn't leave as she dug her nose further in the case that she was working on, and the tender voice she heard next surprised her more than his rushed entrance a couple of minutes. "You know, 'Mione. You've been working a bit hard on that case you've got there...what is it again? 'Witlashes vs. Roggans'?"

She raised her brows up and stared at him longer than a second before looking down at the notes in her folder, murmuring softly "Wow, Ron. You've managed to remember something..."

The frown in his voice made her smile as she took a pen out of her drawer and wrote down a few notes on the left margins of her file. "Not very nice of you...eh- What is that contraption you're writing with?"

"It's a-"

"A pen, Weasley." The deep voice from her door got closer into her office and she kept her head down, busying herself with the paper and other notices on her desk. The paper pin was looking particularly attractive from here; at least she tried to think so. And the calendar on her desk wouldn't stop- "Of course, you wouldn't know anything Muggle, seeing as how your father adores their knick knacks and tools."

"Oi, shove off Malfoy." Hermione could feel the heat in the room rise up and the tough knot in her neck that she usually got during stressful times seemed to be making an appearance.

"Not here to bother you, Weasley. Need to talk to Granger, actually." She looked up as she noted the stiff, deep chord in his voice and saw his neatly parlor-made robes and trousers as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of them. His crisp, combed hair was brushed to the side, with only a few strands managing to tear themselves from the rest of his clean hair. His eyes were on hers and she figured from the way he was looking at her that he had been staring at her ever since he walked in.

She nodded her head quickly and gestured for him to sit down in the seat that had been occupied by Ron before he had shot up from it at Malfoy's entrance. She looked over to her red-faced friend and smiled tightly, "I'll see you at the Burrow tonight, Ronald."

Watching as he nodded briskly and tugged on the sleeves of his robes, undoubtedly grabbing at the end of his wand hidden under there, she watched him leave, heavy footsteps growing fainter and softer as he walked down the hall and further away from the office.

She grabbed her wand and shut the door. The loud click from the knob was the only sound as she patiently sat in her chair and looked down at her file once again. And also his even breaths that she remembered as a distant memory. Soft and cold against her skin...

"If I didn't know any better, I'd way you are avoiding me, Granger."

"Oh? Then you don't know any better, Draco."

She looked up from her file and saw him smirk as he sat back in the chair and folded his arms over his lap. "Still using my first name. Good sign, I'll take that."

She rolled her eyes and placed the file down on the table as she took out a parchment and her pen, writing down the date and time on the left-hand corner, with his name printed clearly on the top center. "I always say 'Draco'. It is your name, is it not?" She sighed and looked up at him. "Let's get this over with; I have a lot I need to work on today."

His eyebrows rose and his lips quirked up, "The case, you mean?"

"Of course."

"We're partners, you know. You don't have to take the bait of all of it. I can contribute."

"You _are_ contributing. These little meetings we have every week are a testament to that."

He scoffed and she watched as his silver eyes rolled back in his head, "Going out to find information about the case that is likely already things you've found and then reporting back to you isn't necessarily contribution. It's a waste of time, Granger, and you know it."

She shook her head and felt her light curls bounce around the back of her neck and collars of her dark purple robes. "Not true. In fact, there are a lot of facts and details for the case that you always point out to me when we have these meetings. It's not just reporting back to me. It's consultation."

"Once a week."

She wringed her fingers as she bit her lip, "To give you time to get the information, of course."

His wrinkled forehead was drawn tight and the frown lines around his mouth deepened as he spoke roughly, "It used to be twice a week that we'd meet. That was...until after the break up you decided-"

"Merlin, you git." She breathed under her breath and rested her head in the palm of her hands as she laid her pen down. The heavy breathing increased as she stared down at his name scrawled on the parchment in front of her. She was trying to breathe in through her mouth, to make the smell of his shampoo not invade her nostrils with every inhale she took. "This _isn't_ always about you, you know."

"No." She rose her head up slightly and felt the heat of her skin on the smooth palm of her hands. His eyes were squinting at her, almost as if he was studying the shape of her face. Memorizing things about her that she knew he already memorized. "This isn't about me. It's about us."

She gritted her teeth and fisted her hands to the side of her face, "There is no **us**. So it shouldn't even matter."

The ragged breaths that she heard weren't coming from him as he stood up and paced the front of her desk, digging his hands into his pockets as he stared down at his feet. It was her. She felt hot all of a sudden. And the room, although one of the biggest in the department, was proving to make her a bit claustrophobic. She wanted to get out of the room and breathe in some fresh air. She wanted Ron back in here, so that the fake sun rays that shone through her windows would brightly light up his hair to make her smile.

Having to deal with her ex once a week was already too much for her to handle, and half the time Draco wasn't making much sense for her.

She looked down at her desk again and studied the wooden grooves on the edge of it. Deep, carved swirls that warped around one another and formed patterns and designs. She wanted to be fascinated with the texture and style of it, but the calculated footsteps in front of her made her bring her head up and break the silence.

"Draco..." He stopped mid pace and looked up at her quickly, stormy grey eyes staring her down. "I-I think we should cancel the meeting for-"

"No." His voice was softly harsh, the timbre rough. She felt it cloud over her skin and bury itself deep into her nerves. A shiver wrangled through her heated flesh and she turned her head away when she could no longer look into his eyes. "You will _not_ cancel. We need to talk about this."

She stared harder at the paper clip in front of her and snarled, "What's there to talk about?" She looked up, building up all the energy and strength to do so. "You broke up with me and seemingly moved on! You've got that Pansy, don't you!" She raised her hand and pointed to her door, "You've got what you wanted, Draco. So don't talk to me about wanting to _**discuss**_ things! We're done discussing things! At least not during work. So just-ju- leave..." She turned her head down and rummaged through her desk drawer, looking around the many files, pens, quills, and pins as she kept her head bent. Her voice was growing hoarse and she swore she felt the edges of her eyes wetting up. She shook her head and breathed in a shattered breath as her fingers pinched against the sharp side of a pin. She gasped as the electric jolt of the pain ran up her arms and she jerked back, holding her finger.

Looking up she saw his tall figure staring down at her and she growled as she stood up as well, "You don't listen, do you?"

"I'm not-"

"Just get out!" She pointed her injured finger to the door again and watched as the red blood trickled down her pale skin. She stared hopelessly at it and whispered once more, "Get out..."

She wasn't sure how long it took him to leave, but once she heard the click of the door open and close she sighed heavily and continued to look at the glistening blood as it journeyed down her hand to her wrist. She was almost sure she could feel the beat of her heart thrashing through the injured prick in her finger, but she ignored it and quickly grabbed her wand to cast a Self-Healing Charm on it.

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><p>The chopping sounds that she was making with her slow attempts to cut the potatoes in thin strips like her mother wanted her to have been failing miserably. Hermione wasn't one who failed at anything. She always tried and tried and tried again to get it right. So why weren't the potatoes obeying her and why wasn't the knife being more obliging to the fact that she didn't like razor sharp things near her fingers while preparing the ever disobedient potato?<p>

The brown skin was peeling off miserably as she sliced through another one, hands gripping around the small thing. _Just grip the small end of it and poise the sharp object above it. Angle it, yes...that's right. Slice through slowly...then edge it over..._

"Crap", she muttered under her heated breath as she wiped a damp sweat over her forehead. The kitchen was already hot and she could hear the laughter in other room as her father was explaining to Ronald and Harry another tragic story of a teenager who was getting their wisdom teeth pulled out. She grimaced at the memory of hers and sliced harder at the thing, breaking the skin and making this slice thinner and uglier than the others.

"Hermione, darling..." She turned her head and brushed a loose curl out of her face. "You want me to take over the potatoes?"

She shook her head and turned back to the little buggers, grimacing at the disfigured slices that she made in the bowl next to her. Maybe she should just chop up the salad then...

Sighing, she laid the knife down on the board and walked over to where her mother was cutting up the tomatoes and lettuce. "I suppose so, yeah."

Her mother smiled softly up at her and patted her cheek with her wet hand, drying them off quickly and shuffling over to the potatoes. "Oh. You've massacred the things, dear."

Hermione grimaced at the acclamation and heard her father's voice, "Jane, dear? Could you come here for a second?"

"Coming, Henry!" She shook her head and wiped her hands on her flowered apron as she walked out of the kitchen, smiling once more at Hermione.

She sighed as she leaned on the counter near the salad bowl, staring at the bright, white tile of her parent's kitchen.

It had been five days since she last talked to Draco. Since she ordered him out of her office and she wasn't too sure if she was overreacting or if it was the right thing to do. Well, she reasoned as she shifted her weight from one foot to the next, losing one's tempter is never the way to go in any situation. But, Merlin was she getting frustrated and her heart...

She sniffled as she stared harder at the tiles and thought about the impending doom that was supposed to come in two days. Another meeting with him. This time she hoped he wouldn't blow another fuse about her ignoring him.

It was better this way anyway. That she knew. And even though she did cut down the meeting times from two times a week to one, that didn't mean much if you took it in a logical context. She just knew that Malfoy wanted everything to be about him. It was as if the world revolved around his bright, billowy blond locks.

She scoffed.

And if it wasn't for his brilliant flirting skills, she wouldn't have to feel this way. Sure, they had broken up two months ago. Sure, that entailed certain rights for the both of them. But showing up with Pansy Parkinson to the Ministry Ball two weeks after their split wasn't something she had expected. Of course, they had planned to go together and of course since they weren't she knew he was more than able to pick up any temporary cow for the evening, but she never thought...

Was it always this hard? She never understood why relationships were ever something one looked forward to. The idea of giving your heart to someone and then giving them the power to tear it apart was unappealing. Her mind was her most treasured attribute and knowingly, she knew that the "heart's" emotions coursed through her brain. So in a way, she had given Malfoy her mind and heart. Her everything. She could honestly say she never felt more vulnerable.

And _that_- that she didn't like at all.

But thinking that Pansy was just a side dish was something that was proven wrong to her once again when she saw the pair at the fancy dining restaurant _**"Le Sol de Le Nuit"**_ on the sharp corner of Diagon Alley a week after the Ball. Sure, it was an expensive restaurant and sure they had been sitting quite closely in the small booth near the window, but at the time she thought nothing of it.

It wasn't until she saw the two of them holding hands as they walked past her office the following day after, and she wasn't sure if the office suddenly got hotter or if her blood was literally boiling in her veins.

The following weeks weren't enough to make her get used to the idea that Malfoy was seemingly moving on. Sure the fact that he had a girlfriend and it was Pansy hit home. Hermione then realized that she was holding onto something that wasn't going to come back and it was until she saw the two holding hands again in the Atrium, sitting on the fountain as they ate their lunch that she started to pick up the pieces of why the last few months of their relationship had went down the drain.

She never confirmed it with him. Never felt the need to ask him if it was true- if he had been cheating on her with Pansy the whole time...because she felt she already knew the answer. However, it always depended on their definition of 'cheating'.

The fights had been getting more frequent between the two and the angry evenings where they couldn't even spend the nights at each other's place was getting to be something that she felt they were getting used to as well. They were little things at first. She would ask him to put the seat in the bathroom down after he was done using it or tell him to wash his dish after he was done eating. Then it turned into late nights where he wouldn't come over the day she'd expect him to and one night it had gotten so bad that she remembered losing her temper completely and throwing her favorite vase at the door near his head.

She wasn't sure if Malfoy always got under her skin like that. She knew that back at school she would always try to manner herself and keep herself calm and collected whenever he felt the need to pick on Harry, Ron, and occasionally herself. But the many things that irritated her about him were always so much more apparent- especially when their relationship reached its first year. The days where he wouldn't want to go with her to visit her parents or where she had chosen to stay home and do some case work instead of go with him to the pub with his friends. She guessed that was when they grew apart.

But Merlin did she love him. Even 'til now...

"Hermione?"

She looked up from the floor and smiled at Harry as he walked in, "Hey. Enjoying my father's stories?"

He laughed as he got closer and stood next to her, leaning up against the counter as well. "Bloody hilarious. Especially that bloke who he mentioned blabbered on and on about his foot fungus as your father was ripping out three of his teeth..."

She shook her head and grinned, "Always hated that story."

"Yes, well. Now your mum and dad are showing Ron some of your baby pictures..."

Her eyes widened and she buried her head in her hands, flushing. "Oh no..."

"Oh yes." She peeked between the cracks in her finger, looking over at her toothy grinned friend. She shook her head and slapped him upside his head, giggling as she watched him grimace from the shock. "Okay, okay. Not funny. I get it."

She smiled softly and breathed in some air. She lent further back on the counter and rested her head on Harry's shoulder. Sighing, she went back to staring at the tile and listening to her friend's heavy breathing.

"Do you ever think about that night, Hermione?" She hummed as she looked up at him, beckoning for him to continue as she stared at his stubble chin. "When Ron left us while we went searching for Horcruxes. Do you ever think about that night? Replay it in your head?"

She bit her lip and turned her attention back to the white floor, "At times. I sometimes think about what I could have done to make him stay. Sometimes I think about what he must have been thinking. Why he felt the need to leave. Even if he had the necklace on, it was his deepest, rawest emotions." She wrapped an arm through Harry's and continued, "I always wanted to just know why and how it turned out to be the way it had been."

She felt him nod and rest his jaw on top of her head, "Right. I think about it a lot, interestingly enough. Just because it's so typical and so complicated. He was in love with you. You were in love with him. And during the roughest times in our lives, he was at his most vulnerable stage, don't you think?"

"Well, of course..."

"I like to think of how you felt at the time. What thoughts were coursing through your mind?"

She laughed bitterly at the memories of tears every night and nightmares. "I was angry, Harry. I thought that he didn't care too much about me. I thought-" She choked on the word and bitterly swallowed down the pained lump that formed in her throat at the memory. "I thought he had stopped loving me."

"Right." Silence. "But he came back, right? He came back."

She nodded her head and closed her eyes as wet trails skidded down the corners of her eyes, "Right. He did."

"I wonder if that's applicable to all kinds of other relationships. To have someone leave during the hardest time, but to only come back."

She sighed, "They usually do. Some, at least."

Harry hummed above her head and stroked her locks as she closed her eyes and saw nothing but bright sun, blond locks, and grey pools of light.

* * *

><p><em>They burst through the bedroom doors and soon Hermione felt his strong hands on the band of her knickers, tearing them down as she felt his soft lips run over the length of her neck. She giggled softly and wrapped her fingers through the back of his hair, tugging him closer.<em>

_His muffled words were blocked by the tight grip she had on him and she pulled back as she watched him heavily breathe on top of her brow, kissing around her eyes and down her nose. "Granger, your hair is a riot this afternoon." She felt him smile against the top of her forehead and she scrunched up her powdered nose._

_"It's really your fault, Draco. If you had just let me back the cookies without your assistance-" He broke her off with a hurried kiss on her lips and ran his heated tongue around her mouth as he dragged his lips over her jaw. She sighed lowly and moaned as he bit the sensitive vein on her neck, racing his lathered tongue over it._

_"If I hadn't assisted you, we wouldn't have made it to this situation, now would we?" She grabbed the hem of his shirt as he licked her sugared collar bones and lifted it up, taking his shirt off. The hard pectorals of his chest and the broad muscles of his arms wrapped around her small half-naked frame and she moaned loudly as his mouth traveled down her bare chest and to her hard nipple._

_She choked on another heavy sigh and picked her lower half up off the floor, wrapping her legs around his waist and rubbing herself unabashedly against his hard form, giggling, smiling and moaning as he hummed around her breast. "Yo-you already kn-now that we would h-have found...oh...Merlin..." She breathed out and rolled her eyes to the back of her head as she reached her hand between their hips, tearing apart the button that held up his trousers._

_Feeling the wall behind her back and his long form pressing against her, giving her some leverage, she was soon using both of her hands as she took off his pants and worked his underwear down his toned legs. She touched him and sighed as he rested his head against her chest and breathed deeply._

_"You're all covered in this baking shit, Granger." He took his head off of her and cradled her bottom with his left forearm and shoved her knickers to the side, revealing her wet entrance to him as her wrapped hands directed his hard member to her._

_She breathed against his ear and smiled, nibbling on his lobe. "Your entire fault, you g-" She moaned as he entered her and he chuckled as he thrust deeper into her._

_"Got you to shut up, now didn't I?" He rasped out._

_She made a noise in the back of her throat as she thrashed around, moving her hips against him, pushing him to move on. He conceded and kept a steady pace as his hot breath blew in her neck. The sweat trickling down the back of her spine and the hollow, empty moans that left her mouth and made her feel as if she wasn't the one making the noises. All she could really believe was the feel of him and the laughter that left his mouth as he wrapped his arms around her tighter._

_"I think I like making cookies with you, Hermione." She felt another shiver run down her body and she moaned deeply as he quickened the pace. Almost feeling herself reach the peak of what was real and unreal. The tight knot in her belly, the electric pulse, the heat._

_She chuckled and bit his ear as she moaned louder, feeling everything from her toes to the nerves in her lower abdomen erupt in sparks of fire. "You're so full of it." She moaned louder and the soft laughter near her ear was all she heard as she concave in on herself. It was so hard to breath, so hard to think, all she could do was feel, smell, and look as the grey pool of eyes rolled back in their sockets as the arm around her tightened further..._

Hermione jerked up in her bed, sweat coating her skin, making her sleeping clothes stick to her. She stared at the clock to the right of her and saw that it was 2:30 in the morning.

Merlin, she thought as she rolled in her damp sheets and looked down her wet form. She shifted her legs and felt the wetness between the apexes of her thighs. She groaned and rested her arm against her forehead, breathing in and out. In and out.

She didn't want to think of the dream. Of the memory. She knew how it ended. Great sex, more sex, shower sex, and burnt cookies. The house elf had been so mad at the both of them for smoking up her kitchen and Malfoy had apologized with a slick grin on his face to his house-elf about other engagements that caught hold of his attention.

She sighed and laid her head deeper into her pillows. So much laughing. The sex had been great between the both of them. They were both very passionate beings and even though they would normally get so turned on by each other, laughing always seemed to find a way into their sex romps.

The clock read 2:32. And she sat up and moved the covers off of her and placed her heated feet on the cool, wooden ground of her bedroom.

* * *

><p>She knocked on the wooden door of the flat and waited in the early winter morning outside. It was still dark and the cool wind was brushing up against her heated skin as she tapped her covered feet over the soft snow on the front door.<p>

The coated, heated breaths came rushing out in quick intervals and she knocked once more on the door, the hard wood bruising her knuckles as she wrapped her arms around her barely covered person. She was wearing her sleepwear still- shorts and all. But the coat she had over her wasn't doing her justice in this blasted cold front.

Why wasn't the door opening? Merlin she was freezing. If only she could get inside and-

The tall figure that filled the outline of the door and blocked the darkness of the inside of their flat came closer to her, filling up the front door in nothing but their silk robes and slipper feet. The blond locks were tousled and messy. His eyes looked bleary and dull underneath the winter night and the pale face was illuminated by the cold moon shining through the darkness of the sky.

She watched as he rubbed his eyes and stared harder at her. When she was sure that he caught a good look of her she watched as his eyes widened and she spoke before he got the chance to. "May I come inside? Please?"

He opened his mouth then closed it, moving to the side to let her go through. She stepped into his darkened foyer, not being able to see the sharp, golden chandelier that she knew was hanging above her at this very moment. The marbled staircase that led up to his room and bath looked like an ominous dragon from where she was standing and the urge to flee and go back home was hanging ever so attractively over her head.

But when she caught him staring at her intensely as he shut the door, letting only the soft light of the moon stream in through the glassed windows near his front door, she knew she had to.

He stood still, his lean form in front of the white door. His pale, cold features almost blended in, but his black attire made her able to track his movements. The way he rubbed his eyes once again and leaned against the door. Or how he pocketed his hands like he always did when he found something interesting.

She inhaled deeply, closing her eyes as she tightened her fist around her wand.

"The passion's there. So it's has to be right..." She breathed in deeply and tightened her shut eyes. "I-I won't believe you if you say you don't love me anymore, Draco. Because..." She choked up and felt her lips tremble as she tried to bite on them to stop. The liquid fears of her past turmoil and anger rode down the edge of her face and she couldn't bring it in herself to look at him. "I don't know what happened. I don't-" She shook her head and breathed in again. "_Merlin_..."

She finally opened her eyes and saw him as another tear trickled down her cheek. She couldn't see his face entirely, but the way he was standing, so stiff and erect. His hands were no longer in his pocket, but lying limply at his side. She wasn't too sure how to take this body language but she stared up at his shadowed face and whispered, "I don't mind your tantrums, or the fights, or the heated arguments and disagreements." She fidgeted with her fingers some more and walked a step closer to him, waiting to see if he was going to back away from her.

He didn't.

She walked closer and soon she was so close to him that she could feel his hot breath on top of her, feel him looking down on her. She looked down at her fingers again and grimaced as she sniffled back some more tears. "I don't believe you when you go prancing around with Pansy as if she's the love of your life. I-the fights, the terrible emotions we went through. That's what I want. That's what I miss." She looked up at him and from here she was able to see his faded grey eyes. Staring longingly into them, she was able to lift her hands into his hair and brush a few strands to the side. "I miss this, Draco." She put her hands down quickly and felt herself trembling. "Please...please say you miss this too."

Standing there, without hearing him speak or utter a single word. It made her feel inadequate and it certainly made her feel a little stupid for coming to his place at 3:17 in the morning after dreaming a long lost memory from their past. Not so distant a past, but one that was so sheltered and left alone that she wasn't too sure she would have ever thought of it again. Sure, the subconscious works in intriguing ways. But she felt there was a purpose. All she was able to remember during the months that they hadn't been together were the tough, horrible times. Even her dreams prior, they were only fights that she dreamed of.

But if he wasn't going to say anything to her. If all she was going to get from this whole situation was his evasive nature once again...sure enough she knew her heart wasn't going to be able to hold itself once she got to the door of his flat to leave.

Merlin, why wasn't he saying anything? She could feel his hard stare on the top of her head as she stared at her moving fingers again. That's all she could do. And she was feeling tragically pathetic...

"Fights?" She looked up at him quickly, and she was sure she felt a sharp crack in the back of her neck for doing so. His eyes glazed over hers and his fingers were prying her two hands apart and holding onto them tightly. Her heart beat was assuredly going a million miles an hour. Or maybe as fast as Harry's old Nimbus. She was almost sure of it. Why was it so hot, by the way?

His stare continued to penetrate hers and she felt him move his fingers over her small hands, rubbing the soft surface of her sweating palms. "Arguments, horrible days filled with yelling, days where we'll feel like we want to give up...those things, Granger. That's what you want?"

She nodded her head slowly and licked her lips. "I-I learned something. Harry told me..." She saw his eye brow rise with question and she continued. "It's during the most vulnerable stages of a relationship where one can really question the validity of their love for someone. And...although we gave up on each other then...I don't want to believe it's too late. I don't want to believe that you don't love me at all. Because...I want to come back...into your life, Draco."

His heavy sigh made her hold her breath in as he spoke, bringing her hands closer to his lips as he rubbed them over her knuckles. "There will be days where we'll think we hate each other..."

She closed her eyes and whispered softly, "I know that. Just..." She pulled in a deep breath and opened her eyes, brown meeting grey. "If we do reach that point I know I'll fall...I'll feel at my lowest. And all I'm asking is that you try your hardest to not let me fall too far down..."

He nodded his head and brought his lips down to her forehead. She breathed in deep and chocked out a soft sob as he brought his lips to her tear-stained cheeks. "I'll catch you before you get too low, Granger. I'll try. I can't say it'll be easy though."

She nodded and tip toed up on her feet to bring her lips over his, "I know. Just...we need to try." She brushed her lips over his, from side to side. Then kissed him full on, lips chaste but deep. The soft rumble of his laughter bubbled over her lips and she frowned as she leaned back to look at the smile forming around his mouth and in his eyes. "What?"

"We're so very strange, Granger." The deep laugh in his voice heavier than before.

She smiled and giggled softly before burying her face deep into the side of his neck. "Oh Merlin, and this is only the beginning, Draco."

He chuckled and ran his fingers through the back of her hair. "Well, crap. It does get harder from here then. Well...as long as I get some arse during this whole venture-oh!"

She jabbed her elbow in his side and laughed lowly in his shirt as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Git."

"Up-tight bitch."

She frowned up at him and scowled. "Not all the time."

He rolled his eyes and smirked, "Right. If you say so, Granger." She pouted, but he only pecked her lips and nose, breathing her in once more. "I love you though. Up-tight swot and all."

She hummed as she continued to scowl at his feet, struggling to keep away the slight smirk. "Right. Love you too, prat..."

And all around her she could just hear laughter and she never felt any better than she did now.

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><p><strong>I hope you guys liked it. Let me know what you think. Hit that little button underneath right here and send me your thoughts. Cause...I semi-love you guys. Sh! Don't tell my future husband though! xx<strong>


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